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WARNING

Cory Cockle, 25, was stabbed to death April 20th, 2008.

Cockle was Edmonton's eleventh homicide victim of the year.

Case status is open and active.

Police continue to investigate Edmonton's 11th homicide of 2008.

At about 8:15 a.m. Sunday, April 20th emergency services were called to a home in the Mill Woods subdivision.

A woman discovered a body lying face down on the deck of her home near 40th Avenue and 61st Street. The body was covered in snow and was not moving.

Sgt. Guy Kinney later said the residents of the home were “too scared to go into the backyard” to check further.

Emergency crews arrived and confirmed the person was dead. Police first treated the death as suspicious until the results of an autopsy determined otherwise. Homicide detectives lead the investigation.

The forensics unit combed the scene for most of the day during an unusually heavy late-spring snow storm.

A blood trail that began in the alley ...

... led into the backyard. Heavy bloodstains were visible at the back gate, left there as the man climbed over the fence while bleeding from a severe leg wound.

Police made no comment on whether the death was drug or gang related but did say the victim had no connection to the home where he was found.

On Monday, April 21st police announced that Cory Cockle, 25, died of a stab wounds.

Police suspect the victim knew his killer and the assault may have been drug related.

A "subject of interest" was identified and interviewed by investigators. He was later released.

Word on the street was that Cockle died as retaliation over his recent filing of a complaint that involved a brick and a car window.

On the promise of meeting a friend to go to a house party, Cockle was met instead by a car carrying two individuals who had been alerted to his whereabouts.

A struggle ensued and Cockle managed to free himself from the vehicle in the alley behind the house where he was later found.

While police were able to interview one of the persons in the car, the other has not been located.

Those who may have been in the area of 40th Avenue and 61st Street between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. Sunday morning, April 20th, and witnessed anything suspicious were asked to contact Edmonton police at 780-423-4567, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.tipsubmit.com - a secure tip submission web site.

Suspicions that criminal association was an element in Cockle's death were bolstered by the man's record of encounters with police.

In 2003, at age 20, Cockle was arrested for being in a stolen truck and charged with possession of stolen property, including mail.

On January 24th, 2004 during a routine traffic stop, police seized 30 grams of methamphetamine, 29 glass vials of GHB (gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid – a popular rave drug), cash and a portable scale. Cockle was charged with two counts of drug possession for the purpose of trafficking and three breaches of recognizance.

Neighbours told media they hadn't heard any commotion in the alley on the night of Cockle's murder. Dominico Patrizi said the area and the house are usually quiet.

"They're a normal family – I've never seen any trouble," he said. "Who knows what happens today and tomorrow?

"It's usually very quiet. I was surprised to see so many police here this morning. Everyone is curious to find out what happened.

"You see people walking the streets or somebody stabbing for no reason. Look at the old man in the parking lot ... makes me scared to go and open the door or walk by myself," Patrizi stated.

Another neighbour expressing surprise was Gerry Gibeault.

"It's kind of a disturbing little development here. I've lived here for 28 years and we've never had any kind of incident of this nature."

Gibeault was the MLA for Edmonton Mill Woods from 1986 to 1993 and has been an Edmonton Public Schools trustee since 1995.

Cory Cockle was remembered as a "very kind and a very giving person."

That assessment came from Myrna O'Neil, whose granddaughter dated Cockle for about three years.

According to O'Neil, his drug use caused the couple to break up in November 2007. That's when she last saw the man.

"He looked after my great-granddaughter and did a great job of it," Myrna said of Cory, explaining he often took the seven-year-old girl shopping and to the park.

O'Neil said Cory was clean when he was with her granddaughter. "But then it was back to the old ways," she said in her interview with the Edmonton Journal.

The city's other daily paper interviewed Cory's mother Barbara Cockle, currently living in Surrey, British Columbia.

She admitted her son had addiction problems but in recent years he had been working through an apprenticeship program to become a machinist.

Through regular phone calls, Barbara offered help and support.

"I was working with him on a personal level for family strength," she told the Edmonton Sun. "I said no matter how bad it was, I said you've got to tell me."

Just a few months ago, Cory told his mother of his plan to help kids stay off drugs.

"His dream was to make sure he was clean and go around to schools talking about drugs," Barbara said.

Regarding police statements that Cory knew his attacker and the likelihood that his murder may have been drug-related, Barbara said she wasn't so sure.

"I don't really know why this would have happened," she said.

At last word, Barbara was planning to move to Edmonton so she could follow the investigation more closely.

deadmonton 2008 - cory cockle